Maruti Ertiga SHVS Test Drive Review

Maruti Ertiga SHVS Review

Car Tested: Maruti Ertiga SHVS; Road Test No. 754

Price OTR Mumbai: Rs. 7.64 – 11.37 Lakhs

The Ertiga is a very practical car with good equipment and reasonable running costs to boot

Maruti first launched the Ertiga in India more than 4 years back and the MPV turned out to be an instant success since it offered excellent practicality at a price which screamed value-for-money. The Ertiga has been competing with quite a lot of rivals in the 7-seater space and it has managed to carve out a good reputation for itself. The automaker gave the MPV a mid-life update some time back and also started offering the SHVS feature (shared with the Ciaz) to make the car slightly more frugal.

Motor Quest: The Maruti Ertiga won a lot of hearts because of its attractive pricing which helped it find a lot of takers. There are quite a lot of 7-seater cars in our market and while some are a bit expensive, the others offer a van-like experience. The Ertiga became a hit because it feels very car-like in nature despite being an MPV.

Exteriors – On the outside, the Ertiga continues to retain the same structure and styling. The front now gets a new grille and tweaked bumper, thus making the Ertiga feel fresher. The side profile continues to remain the same while the rear also doesn’t have noticeable changes except a prominent chrome strip. The alloy wheels now come in a new design too. This time around, Maruti has splashed some more chrome on the car and the facelifted Ertiga indeed looks more appealing than the older model.

Interiors – The layout of the interiors remains more or less the same as the previous Ertiga. However, you now get an all-beige interior which, coupled with the large windows, lends an extremely airy feel to the cabin. I found the seats to be very comfortable and supportive and the driving position is very car-like. The third row is suitable only for kids though. Maruti has also updated the upholstery with new fabric. The middle row seats can be reclined and adjusted for rake and they can also be folded in a 60:40 format. The third row now comes with 50:50 split seats and the seats can even be folded completely flat, which gives a lot of flexibility for carrying stuff.

The interior gets very few changes but feels fairly spacious for a car this size

On the equipment front, the Maruti Ertiga comes with power windows and steering and a manual AC. You now get the same touchscreen that is found on the Ciaz and it even comes with Apple CarPlay unlike the sedan. The screen is responsive and feels good to use while sound quality is pretty much satisfactory. You also get steering-mounted audio controls which up the convenience factor. Apart from this, the Ertiga now comes with a proper keyless-go system which allows you to unlock the door just by pressing on the sensor on the handles and you can then fire up the car using the start-stop button. The MPV even comes with speed-sensing door locks but the annoying part is that the doors don’t auto unlock when the engine is switched off and you need to do it manually every time. We found the performance of the AC to be very good, but if the car has been parked in scathing heat for a while, then the AC does take a few minutes to bring down the temperature.

Performance – The Maruti Ertiga SHVS comes with the 1.3-litre MultiJet diesel engine sourced from Fiat. This is one engine which needs no introduction at all since it powers more than a dozen cars in India. In the Ertiga, it is offered in the 90 PS tune, producing 200 Nm of torque. The engine is matched to a 5-speed manual gearbox. There are no changes to the engine but the SHVS system is a new addition. The oil-burner has good performance once the turbo kicks in and the mid-range is extremely strong. Torque delivery feels linear too. On driving the Ertiga SHVS and our long term Ciaz SHVS back to back, we could easily infer that turbo lag on the Ertiga is lesser pronounced than that on the Ciaz. The engine seems to be tuned a bit differently which results in a better driving experience, especially in the city.

The engine has enough punch and the gearbox has been nicely matched

100 km/hr comes up in 5th gear at 2400 RPM while 0-100 km/hr takes 15.5 seconds. The clutch is very light and gear shifts are also precise, though there is a feeling of notchiness at times. The SHVS system switches off the engine when you come to a halt and slot into neutral. The engine comes back to life as soon as you press the clutch again. There is a slight vibration when the engine toggles on or off but otherwise the process is very smooth. The engine remains switched off only for a duration of 2 minutes and after that it switches back on again. The audio system continues to play while the AC performance gets toned down when the engine is off. You can turn off the SHVS feature by pressing a button next to the front fog lamp switch. Talking about efficiency, we extracted 15-18 km/l from the Ertiga under mixed driving conditions which included a fair bit of traffic. This figure goes down if you intend to drive spiritedly. The SHVS improves fuel efficiency by a marginal amount only. The system regenerates energy during braking and this energy is then transferred to the motor that takes care of the start-stop process.

Driving Dynamics – The Ertiga’s ride quality is nice and the suspension absorbs most potholes and craters with ease. The suspension set-up isn’t that soft and it does its job well. On the highways, the MPV remains very composed even at speeds up to 140 km/hr. The steering offers nice feedback but it just doesn’t weigh up at high speeds and continues to feel very light, which isn’t confidence-inspiring. The brake pedal lacks feel but braking performance is above average.

Safety and After Sales Service – Servicing the Ertiga won’t be an issue because Maruti has a service centre in almost every nook and corner of India. Talking about safety, the Ertiga comes equipped with dual front airbags and ABS on almost every variant. The LXi and LDi variants miss out on these safety features but Maruti offers them on the LXi (O) and LDi (O) trims. Apart from that, all the other V and Z trims come with these features. The same goes for front seat belt pretensioners too.

Verdict – The Maruti Ertiga is a very good people’s carrier and it offers a good amount of features and practicality is also top notch. With the facelift, the car looks better, gets more equipment and even boasts of better efficiency. At the price it is offered for, the Ertiga does provide you with a lot of value and Maruti has got a strong contender on their hands in the 7-seater MPV segment.

What’s Cool

* Interiors boast of excellent practicality
* Good performance with nice efficiency
* Value for money pricing and Maruti’s vast service network

What’s Not So Cool

* Third row is cramped, best suited for kids only

Alternatives: Mahindra Xylo, Chevrolet Enjoy, Honda BR-V

Testers’ Note:

Further Reading –

Maruti Ertiga vs Honda Mobilio